1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to portable communication devices such as cell phones, smart phones and similar handheld devices, and improvements thereto. In particular, this invention provides improvements in antennas and RF shielding of such devices, facing a direction away from the user, to redirecting RF radiation away from the body of a user.
2. Background
Design requirements of cellular phones and smart phones are placing an ever increasing premium on the available space within these devices as their functions become more diverse, ranging from the original basic function as a wireless telephone to a music player, video player, handheld computer, wireless internet device for browsing the web, retrieving email and downloading or uploading files, a still camera, a video camera, a GPS device, a navigation system, etc. These functions bring with them greatly increased demands upon the antenna and generally require more radiation power for transmission, which must serve up to five frequency bands while occupying less space than ever before available for the antenna.
In addition, RF radiation from mobile phones is becoming of greater concern as a health risk, and addressing this issue in the design of the antenna while the space within the phone is reduced poses a particularly difficult challenge, as the only effective methods of significantly reducing RF radiation in the direction of the user, while allowing full power RF signal away from the user, require some additional space for the antenna.
The FCC requires limiting the radiation from a portable communication device (such as a mobile or cellular telephone) that is directed towards a user's head (Specific Absorption Rate, or SAR). Each year the FCC tends to lower the permitted level further. One of the reasons is safety. At the same time, as wireless communications technology advances, the mobile phone device has taken on the function of a hand-held computer with more data-intensive functions, requiring high rates of data transfer between the cell phone and the base station tower. It would be beneficial to the improved function of cell phones to be able to increase the power output of the antenna, but FCC regulations will not allow increased SAR.
The Smart Phone (e.g. iPhone, BlackBerry, etc.), for example, has an internal antenna(s) located at both the lower and upper parts of the phone, bordering the display area. The space for an antenna is usually limited to 1 cm times the width and thickness of the phone. The antenna is situated close to the back surface of the phone, on the side opposite to the user.